The tech landscape has shifted dramatically, and with it, the skills required to be an effective engineering leader.
Gone are the days when the primary focus was on rapid hiring, scaling teams, and fostering a culture of innovation and psychological safety. Today’s engineering leaders face a new set of challenges that require a different approach and set of skills.
You can watch Rebecca’s LeadingEng talk on this topic here.
Financial acumen
When low interest rates made financial resources abundant, many engineering leaders could afford to be somewhat disconnected from the financial side of the business. That luxury no longer exists. Today, they must understand how engineering decisions impact the bottom line.
This means understanding key financial metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Lifetime Value (LTV), Churn Rate, Net Revenue Retention (NRR), and more. Leaders must be able to articulate the financial impact of technical decisions and collaborate closely with finance teams to develop and manage budgets. Making data-driven decisions that balance technical debt against immediate business needs is now part of the job.
Consider scheduling regular meetings with your finance team to understand the key metrics that drive your company’s financial health. Work on translating engineering initiatives into financial terms that resonate with executive leadership.
Strategic prioritization
Leadership’s prioritization decisions profoundly impact an organization’s ability to deliver business outcomes. The choices made about what to work on, in what order, and for how long directly influence the value created by development teams. When priorities are unclear or constantly shifting, the consequences ripple throughout the entire engineering organization, often resulting in a significant waste of time, effort, and resources.
Strategic prioritization means the business has a single, short list of things it is trying to achieve via the engineering organization.
When priorities change frequently, teams are forced to context-switch, abandoning partially completed work to pivot to new tasks. This constant reshuffling leads to a substantial amount of wasted work. Features may be left half-implemented, code becomes stale and requires rework, and the cognitive overhead of repeatedly ramping up on new priorities takes a toll on productivity. Moreover, the momentum and deep understanding that teams build while focused on a specific problem are lost, further diminishing efficiency.
The impact of poor prioritization extends beyond just wasted effort. It can demoralize teams, erode trust in leadership, and create a culture of short-term thinking that ultimately hinders the delivery of meaningful business outcomes. Teams may become hesitant to fully commit to any given project, anticipating that it might be deprioritized at any moment. This tentative approach can lead to suboptimal solutions and missed opportunities for innovation.
Effective prioritization, on the other hand, acts as a force multiplier for engineering teams. By providing clear direction and allowing teams to focus on completing high-value work, leaders can dramatically increase the likelihood of delivering impactful business outcomes. This approach requires discipline and often involves making difficult tradeoffs, but it is essential for maximizing the value created by limited engineering resources.
Operational efficiency
Operational efficiency in software engineering requires a coordinated approach at both the team and leadership levels.
At the team level, success hinges on nailing the fundamentals. This means focusing on small, incremental changes and implementing regular, automated deploys. Teams should measure performance continuously, tracking key metrics to guide improvement efforts.
Counterintuitively, maintaining slack time by enforcing work-in-progress limits smaller than the team size is crucial for productivity. This practice reduces context switching and allows teams to focus on completing current tasks before taking on new work. Finishing what you start is another critical principle, as abandoned work represents wasted effort.
At the leadership level, operational efficiency demands strict prioritization of projects and initiatives, as explained above. Controlling interruptions is equally important. Leaders should create an environment where teams can maintain focus, buffering them from ad hoc requests and managing stakeholder expectations. Perhaps most critically, effective engineering leaders focus on business outcomes rather than code output. This means aligning engineering efforts closely with business objectives and being willing to pivot when necessary.
By combining these approaches, organizations can create a powerful framework for operational efficiency.
Change management
In times of shifting priorities and potential restructuring, engineering leaders must guide their teams through organizational changes with transparency, empathy, and a focus on maintaining psychological safety. This includes communicating changes clearly and honestly, even when full information isn’t available, and helping team members understand the ”why” behind organizational shifts. Providing support and resources for team members affected by changes, while maintaining team morale and productivity during periods of uncertainty, is a delicate but necessary balance.
Psychological safety – the belief that one can speak up without risk of punishment or humiliation – is paramount during times of change. It allows team members to voice concerns, ask questions, and contribute ideas without fear, which is essential for navigating uncertainty successfully.
Key strategies for maintaining psychological safety during change:
- Encourage open dialogue: Create spaces where team members can express their thoughts and feelings about the changes without judgment.
- Validate concerns: Acknowledge that uncertainty and anxiety are normal reactions to change. Avoid dismissing or minimizing team members’ worries.
- Lead by example: Demonstrate vulnerability by sharing your own questions or concerns about the changes, while maintaining a positive outlook.
- Emphasize learning: Frame changes as opportunities for growth and learning, rather than threats.
- Protect your team: Shield your team from unnecessary stress and advocate for their needs with upper management.
Develop a communication plan for your team that includes regular updates, open forum discussions, and one-on-one check-ins. Highlight past successes in navigating change to build resilience within your team. Ensure that your communication style and actions consistently reinforce psychological safety.
Metrics-driven decision making
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are at the heart of data-driven decision-making. For engineering leaders, these might include process metrics, like the DORA metrics, and operational metrics, like uptime.
Robust data collection and analysis systems are required to support data-driven decision-making. This might mean investing in advanced analytics platforms capable of integrating data from various sources across the organization. However, the value of these systems is only as good as the quality and consistency of the data they process: you need to be thoughtful about data governance and foster a culture of data literacy throughout the organization.
Investment prioritization is one area where data-driven decision-making can have a major impact. Leaders should ensure that resources are allocated to initiatives expected to deliver the greatest value to the organization. Systematically evaluate potential projects based on expected ROI, strategic alignment, and risk factors. This approach can be particularly powerful when combined with techniques that balance short-term gains with long-term strategic initiatives.
Stakeholder management
Stakeholder management requires a delicate balance of communication, negotiation, and strategic thinking. It involves navigating complex relationships and managing expectations. Engineering leaders must excel at building strong partnerships with other departments and aligning engineering efforts with cross-functional goals. This necessitates developing robust relationships with leaders in product, sales, marketing, and finance, while communicating engineering constraints and opportunities to non-technical stakeholders.
Stakeholder management also involves knowing when and how to say no effectively. Saying no doesn’t mean being uncooperative; rather, it’s about setting clear boundaries and managing resources effectively. When faced with unrealistic demands or requests that conflict with engineering priorities, leaders should be prepared to decline while offering alternative solutions or explanations respectfully.
Timing matters. It’s often better to provide a quick, honest ”no” early in the process than a delayed one that could disrupt plans and damage relationships.
It’s a brave new world
The role of engineering leadership has evolved significantly in response to changing market conditions. While the core principles of effective engineering management – fostering innovation, maintaining team morale, and delivering high-quality products – remain important, they must now be balanced against these new demands.
For many of us who built careers in a growth-focused environment, this shift requires a conscious effort to develop new skills and adapt our leadership style. It’s challenging, but it also presents an opportunity for personal and professional growth. As we navigate this new landscape of engineering leadership, we need to remain adaptable, continue learning, and support one another in developing these critical skills.
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